From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue May 25 2010 - 15:33:39 EDT
U.S. says Ethiopa vote not up to int'l standards
Tue May 25, 2010 5:11pm GMT
WASHINGTON, May 25 (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday Ethiopia's
election failed to meet international standards and called for stronger
democratic institutions in the country, a key U.S. ally in Africa.
"While the elections were calm and peaceful and largely without any kind of
violence, we note with some degree of remorse that the elections there were
not up to international standards," Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie
Carson told a House of Representatives panel.
Carson, the Obama administration's top diplomat for Africa, said Ethiopian
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government had taken "clear and decisive"
steps to ensure it won a landslide victory in Sunday's vote. The ruling
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front and allied parties won
nearly every seat in the country's 547-member parliament.
A European Union observer mission said on Tuesday the polls had been marred
by reports of violence and intimidation, as well as the ruling party's use
of state resources for campaigning, but that this did not invalidate the
results.
"It is important that Ethiopia move forward in strengthening its democratic
institutions and when elections are held that it level the playing field to
give everyone a free opportunity to participate without fear or favor,"
Carson said.
The United States regards Ethiopia as a crucial ally in the fight against
hardline Islamism in the Horn of Africa, and has provided some $4.7 billion
in aid to the country between 1999-2009, including $862 million in 2009,
according to State Department figures.
But Washington has also noted opposition accusations of repression by Meles,
who has been in power since 1991.
The two countries traded sharp words in March after Meles accused the
U.S.-funded Voice of America broadcaster of spreading "destabilizing
propaganda" and said it would explore jamming the broadcaster's Amharic
language service.
Carson indicated that the United States would continue to press Meles to
make democratic changes, but not at the price of endangering the alliance.
"We appreciate the level of collaboration that we receive from Ethiopia in a
number of areas, but we also believe that Ethiopia must do better in
strengthening its democratic institutions," he said.
(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; editing by Jackie Frank)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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